FETC+Handouts

[|70 Interesting Ways to Use an iPad in the Classroom] The handout has a variety of good ways to use the iPad in the classroom, but the struggle we have is the number of iPads available. We currently have 24, 16GB iPads. This is difficult to use when you factor in that we have 25 classrooms. Next year will improve slightly as we will have 12 additional iPads. Students really enjoy making the presentations on the iPad. It is much more hands-on then the computer. With the continual improvement of the iPad some apps quickly become out of date. For example the Dragon Dictation is a great free app, but the new iPad now has dictation built into it. The other difficult thing that I agreed with this handout is the use of setting up an email account on the iPad. This is a necessity, but when you are using an email account that has 24 iPads synced to it it may become a problem, although the benefits out weight the challenges. I need to look at getting teachers to use posterous more. The way I understand it to work would be great for creating student or class blogs.

Socrative Space Race I chose Socrative Space Race because since January I have been using Socrative and I feel it is a great resource. The only part of the site I have not used is the Space Race. After looking at this article I think it will be a great tool for teachers as a review and get kids motivated about working collaboratively. I also like the feature that Socrative recently added and that is allowing teachers to share the test that they have created.

iPads and More After looking at this article I find that the biggest struggle is choosing an appropriate device. As a school district it is a challenge to invest the money on something that may or may not be the best technology. For simplicity looking strictly at ereaders. You can choose between the Nook and Kindle, the two most well known. If you invest in either of these you then need to determine which model is best. If you go with the two higher end models if it close to an iPad and that would be your best option of getting. You also have to be willing to commit if you buy the Kindle are you going to continue to buy the Kindle in years to come because you have not only bought the hardware, but also the books that go with it. As Richardson points out in **Personal Learning Network** minimizing the different types of devices will decrease the cost of servicing these devices.